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After my ignorance of what to do with free books given to you by the publisher, I’ve learned a lot. The majority of what I’ve learned has been because of the Internet. However, early on, I started attending writers conferences and found them invaluable for two reasons. One, even today I always learn something and I always come home rejuvenated. Nowadays, I only go to a writers conference if I can be a speaker, but for years, I went to only to soak up knowledge.

One of the first I attended was a mystery conference. Though small in numbers, the speakers were legends. One year Mary Higgins Clark was there and the next, Sue Grafton.

The more I attended, the more I learned the importance of promotion. As I planned my own promotion, I learned that though booksignings can be fun, they are not always the most successful. I also found out that if I could speak, I would definitely sell more books. Libraries are on of my favorite places to give a talk. Speaking to service and social organizations is also fun and usually profitable.

Going to mystery cons is always fun, but selling books is not the main reason to go. Meeting other mystery readers should be the primary focus. I’ve made a lot of friends at mystery cons and some of them have become fans of my mystery series. Smaller cons are wonderful. Among my favorites are Mayhem in the Midlands in Omaha and the Public Safety Writers Conference which has been in Las Vegas the last few years.

Of course, the Internet has opened up many new opportunities for promotion. Having a website and a personal blog are invaluable. Doing a virtual book tour will result in many opportunities to make your name known. And they are lots of fun. Being invited to do a guest blog like this is also a tremendous opportunity.

I’m sure I’ve missed even more ways to do promotion, but the message here is that once you know your book will be published, begin the planning for your promotion.

To put what I’ve written about getting published into a few words of advice:

Learn the writing craft.
Write every single day.
Edit, edit, edit. Have someone else who knows about editing, check it.
Be sure the manuscript is the best you can possibly make it before sending it off.
If it get rejected, send it out again. If it gets rejected a lot, go over it and see what you can do to make it better.
Once it’s gone, start writing the next book.
Never, ever give up.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com